The bill obliges to include the None Of The Above box into ballot papers for all future election of all levels, from municipal to State Duma

MOSCOW, January 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian State Duma lower parliament house has passed in the first reading a bill adding an official None Of The Above option to ballot papers for future elections.

Amendments to this effect were submitted by a group of members of the Federation Council upper house led by its speaker Valentina Matvuyenko.

The bill obliges to include the None Of The Above box into ballot papers for all future election of all levels, from municipal to State Duma.

Experts of the Civil Society Development Foundation headed by Konstantin Kostin believe that the new option may become an effective tool for local elections, “a barrier for various clan, corporate or family type schemes of control for various municipal entities.”